WTCS Hamburg 2025 Mixed Relay World Championship: Hauser anchors Australia to glory

A sensational final leg from Matt Hauser saw Australia crowned the Mixed Relay World Champions after a dramatic race at WTCS Hamburg.

Sophie Linn, Luke Willian and Emma Jeffcoat all played their part but there was lots of work for Hauser – who won the individual race for the second year in a row on Saturday – to do as he started the anchor leg 20 seconds back.

But he reduced that dramatically on the swim and then drove the bike before finishing it off on the run after a great duel with France’s Dorian Coninx who had to settle for silver, three seconds back.

Defending champions Germany were third, with Great Britain in fourth as 20 nations lined up – here’s how it all played out…

Leg A – Belgium and France to the fore

It was no surprise that Vittoria Lopes was out of the water first for Brazil. The main contenders were all closely packed with the exception of Portugal who found themselves 30 seconds behind early on the bike.

Meanwhile Jolien Vermeylen, who claimed a superb fourth place in the individual race on Saturday, briefly kicked clear for Belgium but it soon came back together on the first of two bike laps.

At the end of the bike leg there were 12 teams – Belgium, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Hungary, Mexico, France, Australia, USA, New Zealand, Canada and Brazil – together at the front with a 12-second lead over the rest.

It soon broke up on the run though as Saturday’s women’s winner Leonie Periault (France) and Vermeylen pulled a few metres clear at the front on the first of two laps.

And by the end of the second they had five seconds on the rest, with Germany in third through Lisa Tertsch and Great Britain fourth via Beth Potter.

Mexico (Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal) were fifth, Spain (Anna Godoy) sixth and the USA (Taylor Spivey) were seventh and just 10 seconds separated the leading seven.

Leg B – Stunning display by Vilaca

Belgium (Joris Basslé) and France (Yanis Seguin) remained locked together and first and second after the swim but the big movers were the USA, with Chase McQueen taking them up from seventh to third.

And early on the bike we suddenly had a front group of five with Great Britain (Michael Gar) and Germany (Lasse Nygaard Priester) bridging up.

Five then became six after a power-packed effort from Márk Dévay saw Hungary join the fray.

At the end of the first lap they had 14 seconds on the rest who were being driven by Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca.

Vilaca’s efforts were sensational and it meant that going into T2 it was all back together with 15 teams in contention – Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Ireland and Denmark were the exceptions and with plenty of work to do.

Despite his efforts on the bike, Vilaca went straight to the front on the run, closely followed by Gar who was putting up a terrific performance considering his inexperience.

But to the delight of the crowd it was Priester who now moved ahead of Vilaca and into first place. And that was how is stayed to the changeover – Germany first, Portugal second and a gap to the rest.

Pre-race favourites France were 15 seconds off the pace in seventh – but now had Olympic and World Champion Cassandre Beaugrand in action.

Leg C – Beaugrand blitz for France

It was all change in the swim on leg three, with Liv Mathias taking GB to the head of affairs.

She was closely followed by Germany (Tanja Neubert) and Australia (Emma Jeffcoat) while Beaugrand now had the French within eight seconds.

The leading trio worked well on the bike but the chasers had strength in numbers and going into T2 it was all back together and seemingly set up perfectly for Beaugrand to attack on the run.

However she was at the back going into transition which meant she gave up seven seconds to those at the front.

But the Olympic champion wasted little time in cutting the gap and having been last out of the front 11 teams at T2 she was first and going clear by the end of the first of two run laps!

And she rammed home the advantage on the second loop, meaning she handed over to Coninx with France seven seconds ahead of the rest.

Leg D – Aussies rule thanks to Hauser

Coninx was followed by Connor Bentley (Great Britain) and Henry Graf (Germany) and 40 seconds covered the first 11 nations – with Saturday’s men’s winner Hauser needing to overcome a 20-seconds deficit for Australia.

France’s lead was wiped out in the swim, with Graf coming out of the water first, Bentley second, Coninx third, Simon Westermann (Switzerland) fourth, Hauser fifth, Csongor Lehmann (Hungary) sixth and John Reed (USA) seventh, with less than 10 seconds now covering them and a gap back to the rest.

Seven teams swiftly became five as Hauser drove it from the front which resulted in the USA and Hungary both dropping off the back.

The five at the front worked well together and going to T2 we were set for a grandstand finish on the run, though Graf just dropped back slightly in the closing stages.

Coninx and Hauser then powered clear of their rivals as it quickly developed into a duel between France and Australia.

Graf though had other ideas as he flew past Bentley and Westermann and into third but no sooner had he almost latched onto the front two, Hauser kicked.

And just as it had on Saturday that acceleration proved decisive – which meant that having started 20 seconds behind he was able to celebrate the win long before the line as the Aussies became world champions for the first time in eight years.

France took the silver, Germany the bronze, Great Britain fourth and Switzerland fifth.

WTCS Hamburg 2025 Mixed Relay Results

Sunday July 13 2023 (Female-Male-Female-Male)
Each leg 300m / 7km / 1.6km